Monday, 7 March 2016

Skala Sykamineas

When our team finally managed to
make it out to the camp we went for a 24 hour shift. It was actually three
shifts, all stacked on top of each other. We arrived around three o’clock in
the afternoon. The site supervisor, Laura, walked us through the different
stations and we decided where we would like to work. The camp where we were
working is called Skala Sykamineas. There is no town of that name, but the town
right beside the camp is called Sykaminea. Skala is a Greek word that means
‘stairs to the port’.

The station I was working at is
where the refugees come to after receiving water and a banana. They didn’t come
directly to me because I was working in the kitchen tent, but I saw them go by
on their way to the big refugee tent. I made a huge pot of Afghani tea. Afghani tea is tea leaves and lots and
lots of sugar. They like it super sweet. Sickeningly sweet. SO sweet. Okay, I
think you get the picture! I only had to make one pot of tea and there was
still just about half a pot when we left 24 hours later. I also had a pot of
hot water always on the stove and ready to use. The baby food was in the
kitchen tent, so I would rinse baby bottles and put the hot water and milk
powder in them for the moms. It was a little overwhelming at first to be the
one in charge of the kitchen and working by myself. I was sort of just thrown
into the job with very little explaining on what
I was supposed to do exactly. Laura came and explained how to do it all
again (which was a lot less and easier than the people who had been in the
kitchen before had said) and said if I needed anything she was there to help.
She was so kind to me and it helped so much knowing that she would come and
help me if I needed her. Even though she was super busy, she stopped to make
sure I was alright and it made such a difference.

My job was actually pretty laid
back. I made the tea and when it was ready I went out with a stack of cups and
a pitcher of tea and passed it out to the refugees. Even though I wasn’t really
talking with the people it was nice to interact with them a bit. They were so
grateful for the tea. It was really eye opening to me. Here I was just giving
them a cup of tea and they had tears in their eyes and huge smiles on their
faces. It was such a small thing, but it meant so much to them.

Because my job wasn’t really time
consuming I was able to help in a few of the other stations. I took over
handing out water and bananas for a couple hours, which I loved doing. It was
so exciting to see the refugees arriving and being one of the first people they
saw when they walked into camp. I was also able to help out in the clothing
tent with another lady on my team. We sorted donations and Rachel organized the
whole tent. It was so messy when we first arrived, but with Rachel’s hard work
and my help it looked so good when we left the next day.

I was still sick while we were there so the team let me
sleep through the night; I didn’t have a shift during the night (there are always
a few people awake during the night in case refugees arrive). I slept in one of
the clothing containers. It was freezing cold, but I managed to sleep and I am
so grateful the rest of the team was willing to take my shift. In the morning I
handed out rice pudding to the refugees that had stayed overnight and then I
passed out more tea. It was fun. As more refugees began arriving in camp I
helped hand out more water and bananas. In total we had 1, 100 refugees come
through the camp in the 24 hours we were there.

It was bittersweet leaving Skala
Sykamineas. I was ready to leave, but I enjoyed working out there. It was so
good. I would love to do something similar in the future.